How To Use Minneola Tangelos In Green Smoothie Recipes

The Minneola tangelo makes a wonderful flavor fruit in a green smoothie recipe. They are a citrus fruit hybrid of a tangerine and a grapefruit. The Minneola variety of the tangelo has a sweet, tangerine flavor and does not have any grapefruit bitterness whatsoever.

Minneolas look similar to oranges, but are easily distinguishable by a characteristic “nipple” at the top of the fruit. The skin peels easily and inside are small seeds, much smaller than an orange. I prefer to remove the seeds before blending. Tangelos are also much juicier than a typical orange.

They blend well with other citrus fruits and can be used interchangeably with oranges in recipes. They accent tropical flavors in green smoothies that use coconut, banana, pineapple, apple, pear, peach and plum. Cacao and ginger accent minneola wonderfully.

Use bitter greens like kale and dandelion as the sweet tangerine flavor is good at neutralizing bitterness when blended with other sweet fruit like banana or mango.

Minneola Tangelo Nutrition

As with other citrus fruits, minneolas are rich in vitamin C and contain vitamin B1, potassium, folate, calcium and dietary fiber. They are also among the best fruits to use in a detox green smoothie recipe due to their high water content.

Despite the fact that minneolas are descended from the grapefruit, they do not contain the active compounds in grapefruit that interfere with statin drugs like Lipitor and Zocor (read more here).

Get more ideas for green smoothies using the Minneola tangelo by browsing the tangerine, orange and grapefruit smoothie recipe pages.

How To Select Minneolas

Choosing ripe Minneolas is no different than choosing oranges. Look for fruits that are give slightly to pressure and show a deep, bright orange color. Avoid fruits that are too soft, have dents, leaking fluid or are shriveled.

Citrus fruits like oranges are typically in the middle-range for potential pesticide residue (44 out of 100) according to research conducted by the Environmental Working Group, however, they have a thick peel that you can easily remove. If you want to zest or eat some of the peel, I recommend buying organic, otherwise you can purchase non-organic.

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